Pursued
by Allie Knight
Summary: It was a normal Friday night until the first shots rang out. Now, they know. It's not just the School after them, and there's nowhere to hide. They'll kill anyone to get to the flock. They're being pursued, and this time...there is no escape. Rated T for violence, but hey, it's the flock.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, hey. It's been a while, hasn't it? Anyways, a friend of mine lives in Colorado, and she was ranting about all the crap happening to Colorado right now. And, voila, I had an idea. Enjoy.**

**~^.^~**

Have you ever gotten the feeling that something horrible was about to happen? An inclination to flee and not look back? A gut feeling that whatever happened next would leave you screaming in your sleep for years to come?

It was a relatively normal Friday night. We—meaning the flock and I—were enjoying the last morsel of our summer, which we had spent lazing about at the pool and catching up on the latest episodes of Glee.

But back to Friday night. Nudge wanted to see a movie at the nearest theater, which was in Aurora. Iggy and Gazzy wanted to see the latest Batman movie, and Fang and I were neutral on the subject. When I had suggested that I see a different movie with Angel, she had shot me a withering look. "Max, we've lived through worse than this," she reprimanded me.

So, Angel came with.

After the initial bathroom, popcorn, and soda run, we settled in to enjoy the midnight movie.

It wasn't even thirty minutes in when it happened.

Angel grabbed my sleeve and yanked me down. The sudden action startled the other four down, hidden by the seats around us.

That's when the first shots sounded.

There was a moment of confused shock before it set in. Bullets whistled through the theater, and agonized wails pierced the air as bullets found their marks in innocent people.

There's always a moment of realization. When the muddy water of confusion settles and the truth is crystal-clear, staring you in the face.

That night, the realization was this: Somebody had a gun. And they were shooting to kill.

There was pandemonium, of course. There always is. Shrieks and gunshots formed an awful soundtrack to the chaos of the people pouring out of the nearest exits.

We were stuck in the middle of it. That's when the second realization set in: the shooter wasn't just here for laughs. He had a target. Six, actually. And it didn't matter how many innocents were killed in his path to victory.

He'd find us if we stayed hidden, that much I knew. But the rest was an awful choice.

A decision was reached rather quickly, however, when Angel launched herself out from behind the seats and towards the exit.

The rest of us followed suit, racing for our lives as we shoved our way through.

And then, we were out. Just like that.

"Up and away," I whispered, a mixture of rage and tears edging my voice.

We took off, soaring away from the screams of the wounded and anguished, away from the hunter determined to kill us.

~^.^~

**A/N: So, there you have it. Chapter one. A very short, unedited chapter , but a chapter all the same. **

** For the record, I don't mean to offend **_**anyone**_** with this story. Jaycee, my Coloradan friend, just inspired me, and I poured the story out onto the keyboard.**

** Oh, and I don't own Maximum Ride. **

** R&R?**

**Allie**


	2. Chapter 2

I wanted to turn around. It hurt to keep flying, to keep going when so many other people would never be able to go on again after tonight.

But still, I flew.

It was a short flight back to the E-house, where we collapsed into the armchairs in the family room.

"I don't get it." Tears traced a path down Nudge's face. Over her cheekbones, down around her nose, dripping of her chin and splashing against the floor. "Why?"

I knew what she was asking, but that was a question that I couldn't answer. I chose to answer a different question. "We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, sweetie." I was lying, and we all knew it.

Angel picked herself up off the couch and threw herself on my lap, sobbing into my shoulder. She was tough for a six-year-old, but seeing innocent people shot down for _absolutely nothing_-who _could_ handle that?

"We should get to bed. We're alright, okay?" Iggy tried to herd everyone to bed, but only Nudge and Gazzy complied. Angel was adamant that she wasn't tired, but she was asleep within seconds on my lap.

"You lied." Fang finally spoke up. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Innocent people were murdered tonight, Fang. Just so that whoever it was could get to us. Did you want them to have nightmares? Because they would, if I told them that." My voice comes out calmer than I expected, my voice cracking the tiniest bit on 'murdered'.

"Go to sleep, we can talk about this in the morning-"

I interrupt Iggy with a savage glare, my voice practically dripping icicles. "This isn't a trivial matter that we can put off for a good night's sleep. We should have gone back and helped those people. It was one man with a gun-"

"-and tear gas, and we don't know _what_ they are. It's doubtful that they're even human." Fang cuts in.

"_We should have helped._" The words escape my mouth as an animalistic snarl, startling even me. "The murderer could be after us this very second, and we could have stopped him. Her, them, whoever."

"It'll take long enough for them to track us that we can put this off until morning," Iggy reminds us quietly, the voice of reason for once.

I sigh and cradle Angel to my chest as I stand and make my way down the hall, towards her room.

Angel stirs and wakes about halfway there, her blue eyes focusing on my face pleadingly. "Max? Can I sleep with you? ...I'm scared," she admits.

I nod in consent and step instead into my room.

When I fall asleep, the screams of the victims haunt my nightmares.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's done. Just to clarify, The Angel Experiment never happened.**

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews! Hope you enjoyed!**

**Allie**


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